No Really, Don’t Worry About Your Velcro Baby

November 7, 2018

An English mum is going mega viral with her extremely relatable, and pleasantly glass-half-full attitude about Velcro babies, and what she calls “contact naps.”

It’s probably safe to say that most moms have been trapped under a sleeping baby at some point. At first it’s pretty glorious, right? The tiny puffs of breath, the rosy cheeks, the weight of their meaty little legs. Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

But things get a little stressful when you find yourself in a situation where your arms end up being the only place your cherub wants to be.

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The stress of a Velcro baby is multifaceted.

You’ve got the I’ve should be doing something else guilt, coupled with the bullshit “you’re spoiling your kid” attitude you get from randos, and of course the “is my baby broken?” questions that ping pong around your mind.

If this is part of your daily routine, you end up spending a significant portion of your day feeling less than great.

Blogger Katherine Thornalley recently put an incredibly positive spin on the whole “human couch” thing by pointing out that maybe, just maybe, this is our baby’s gentle reminder to us to slow our roll a little.

In her now viral post, she wonders “…what if, just say, WHAT IF this is how it is SUPPOSED to be? Alright yes, we know that evolutionary (sic) babies are designed to want to be close to their mothers, but what if that is also meant to work out for the mother to rest too. It’s meant to be for OUR benefit. To sit back for just a moment, and forget about everything else going on in life. To take in the beauty of our children, and REST.”

What the what? You mean like, maybe my baby who refuses to be put down isn’t broken, and I’m not ruining them by allowing them to sleep on my chest? Like, maybe this is nature’s way of forcing me to sit down and just be for a while? Mind. Blown.

That is one powerful shift in perspective!

Now, before any evolutionary biologists @ me over this, I get that it’s just a tired mom, postulating on why she’s currently trapped under a baby. But IT GAVE ME LIFE, and the over 80K shares it’s wracked up prove I’m not the only one totally moved by what she’s said.

She ends her post with pointing out what a huge toll childbirth takes on our bodies, and how a little rest is often just what the doctor (or the Velcro baby) ordered when it comes to fully recovering.

Her words may not teach your baby to self-soothe, or sleep on their own, but if you can buy into it, her perspective is pretty powerful.

So sit back, Mama. That Velcro baby WILL learn to sleep and exist without your physical reassurance. And in the meantime? Trust that this is exactly the way it’s supposed to be.